Come out to Play | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Come out to Play | Previous Challenge Entry
By Graham Insley
06/12/19
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Have you ever heard the saying ‘It’s child’s play’? I mean, I don’t understand it. It’s supposed to mean something simple, easy, a piece of cake. Well, apropos that expression. Have you ever tried my grandma’s cake? One piece of her cake is enough for a lifetime. Nothing simple about that. Complex, full of stuff that only God knows about and highly toxic. Piece of cake indeed, obviously any chore described like that should be avoided. Same as child’s play.

Have you ever seen children at play? All quite happy, until little Joey decides to take his ball home, or Johnny hits Freddy over the head with his cricket bat. The gods of war come out to play then. All the teachings about Jesus are forgotten. Meek and mild becomes a freak gone wild. Susie pulls Jenny’s hair to get her favourite ribbon back and Finding Wally takes on new meaning when Wally decides to go missing and has been gone for three hours. He found some new kittens in the basement and didn’t want to share them with anyone else.

And have you ever been to an under-five’s soccer match. It’s funny man. Seven aside, right? All lined up for the starting whistle. Positions taken, goalie in place and then blow, the match is on and it’s every man for himself. Fourteen little kids after that poor ball. Forget positions then, they’re all abandoned, goals included, as everyone tries to kick the ball just one time. Heads down, arms flailing, legs churning, hearts thumping and voices at full throttle… and that’s the parents on the sideline.

Mind you, it doesn’t matter that the goals have been abandoned. One goal is to the north, one to the south, but the kids are going west… that’s where the tuck shop is. The ball’s abandoned too as they try to squeeze their fav sweets from mum or dad. All talking at the same time, it sounds like a Southern Baptist convention, “I confess all my sins mum. Please mum, ah come on dad, I promise to behave, I won’t dunk Jimmy in the pool no more, I’ll make Jesus happy. Ah, come on mum!”

Child’s play. Simple? Easy? More like confusion and weapons of mass destruction. A free for all with DIFFICULT in big capital letters.

But hey, I love my children. I took them to the beach last weekend and spent hours watching them… in the emergency ward. Little Henry was happy with his bucket and spade, burying his sister… along with four crabs, two jelly fish and a bunch of poison ivy he smuggled in his swimmers. Both got badly stung with it and Sally wanted to see what raw jelly fish tasted like. But they are okay now. The poor doctor though… they say he comes out of therapy next week and the bandages come off the week after.

By the way, have you ever had a night where you sleep like a baby? Wake up crying every half hour looking for a feed or a nappy change. Worst night’s sleep I ever had. Boy, I’m glad that’s over.

But, you know, really, children are a gift from God. Tomorrow I’m going to see if He’ll mind me exchanging them for something else. A new drill or a pocketknife would be good.

I was watching my kids on the swing set yesterday. They were happy, playing along with laughter and a smile, while I had a cardiac arrest and three strokes. I’m telling you, it was scary man. Little Henry nearly fell off the swing five hundred times and Sally deliberately jumped off the swing screaming… just for fun. That scream went right through me. But when I raced over to her, yelling for someone to call an ambulance, she was just laughing her head off.

Children should come with a health warning. Parent’s beware, you are at serious risk of heart failure, stroke and mental illness.

But seriously, God has given us a powerful responsibility with every child in our midst, they are full of wonder and magic. Take your eyes off them for one second and you are left wondering where they are as ‘Hey presto’ they disappear. You spend the next half hour recovering from a panic attack. While they play hid and seek, you’re playing search and rescue. And their watching from their secret hide away, giggling and laughing at your stress. Lovely little creatures. God’s gift to make you stronger.

Raising kids? It’s child’s play.

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